Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring ‘70s

May 25, 2018 - February 14, 2021

​WATCH EXHIBIT-RELATED VIDEOS AND PERFORMANCES

Willie Nelson. Waylon Jennings. Kris Kristofferson. Jessi Colter. Bobby Bare. Jerry Jeff Walker. David Allan Coe. Cowboy Jack Clement. Tom T. Hall. Billy Joe Shaver. Guy Clark. Townes Van Zandt. Tompall Glaser. Today, all names synonymous with the word “outlaw,” but 40 years ago they started a musical revolution by creating music and a culture that shook the status quo on Music Row and cemented their place in country music history and beyond.

The Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum's upcoming major exhibition, Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring ’70s, will explore this era of cultural and artistic exchange between Nashville, Tenn., and Austin, Texas, revealing untold stories and never-seen artifacts. The exhibition, which opens May 25 for a nearly three-year run, will explore the complicated, surprising relationship between the two cities.

While the smooth Nashville Sound of the late 1950s and ’60s was commercially successful, some artists, such as Nelson and Jennings, found the Music Row recording model creatively stifling. By the early 1970s, those artists could envision a music industry in which they would write, sing and produce their own music. At the same time, Austin was gaining national attention as a thriving music center with a countercultural outlook. Musicians of varying stripes migrated to Austin, where the disparate strains of country, bluegrass, folk, blues, rock, and conjunto blended to create a unique environment hosted by music–friendly venues such as the Armadillo World Headquarters, Broken Spoke, Soap Creek Saloon and Antone’s.

“Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring ’70s offers an unprecedented look at some of the most compelling music and artists in music history,” said museum CEO Kyle Young. “This was an era in which renegades Bobby Bare, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson fought for and won creative control of their own songs and sounds. It was a time when melodic poets Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt and Billy Joe Shaver elevated public perception of what a country song could be. It was a time when the Austin, Texas, music and arts scenes blossomed, and when characters like singer-songwriter Jerry Jeff Walker, Hondo Crouch (who bought his own town, Luckenbach, Texas), armadillo art specialist Jim Franklin and University of Texas football coach Darrell Royal changed Lone Star culture. At the time, some of these things seemed unusual, even insane. Now, they all seem essential to any understanding of this great American art form, country music.”

Own The Album: Outlaws & Armadillos - Country's Roaring ‘70s | 2-Disc set featuring 35 song tracks | Now at the Museum Store

Exhibit-Related Programming

SATURDAY, September 15th | 11:30am

Songwriter Sessions: Ray Benson

SATURDAY, September 15th | 2:00pm

Poets and Prophets: Salute to Billy Joe Shaver

SUNDAY, September 23rd | 10:00am

Creative Zone: Hip Hats

THURSDAY, October 18th | 10:00am

Creative Zone: Make an Outlaw Bandana

​VIDEO FROM THE EXHIBIT OPENING CONCERT

The “Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring ‘70s” Exhibit Opening Concert co-produced by Dave Cobb and Shooter Jennings Official will premiere this Friday at 8 pm ET on SiriusXM Outlaw Country, SiriusXM Radio Ch. 60! Get a sneak peek below as Country Music Hall of Fame member Bobby Bare performs "Marie Laveau" with help from Amanda Shires!

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum hosted a star-studded concert to kickoff its "Outlaws and Armadillos: Country’s Roaring ‘70s" exhibit. Billy Joe Shaver performed "Honky Tonk Heroes," joined by Amanda Shires, Gary Nicholson and a killer band assembled by co-producers Dave Cobb (guitar) and Shooter Jennings (keyboards).

​PHOTOS FROM THE EXHIBIT OPENING CEREMONY

This project is funded in part by a grant from Humanities Tennessee, an independent affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.​